Photography by Stephen Buchanan
Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout. During a seven-year stint in the Boy Scouts, which ended at age 19, Andrew Pruski discovered the gratification that comes with helping people. His motivation to serve was strengthened when he attended New York’s Niagara University. The school’s motto is still to serve.
“Since being an Eagle Scout and all the way through college, I have done community service,” Pruski says. “In college, I spent a lot of time doing bingos at senior living facilities. We also did a lot of work in low-income communities.”
Pruski, a two-term Anne Arundel County Council Member, got even more involved with community service after college. He has helped veterans, students, and women in need of housing and financial assistance. He has also organized neighborhood cleanups.
On top of that, the 44-year-old Pruski assisted first responders—fire fighters and policemen—and personnel in the ICU units at Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center and the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He cites the tough times they faced during the pandemic.
“They are always people in need,” says Pruski, who may run for the House of Delegates in 2022. “If you have the time and ability to help someone regardless of what it is, I would do it. I would do something for other people and not expect something in return.”
Pruski, a Gambrills resident, somehow manages to balance all his community service with a full-time job and busy family life. He’s married with three kids, and works as a supervisor of internal assessment for Prince George’s County Public Schools. That’s not to mention his duties as a councilman that he considers another full-time job.
“I go from nine a.m. to nine p.m. every day,” Pruski says.
If all that is not enough, Pruski coaches basketball, soccer, baseball, and flag football in the Gambrills Odenton Recreation Council (GORC).
GORC President Mike Pozdol admires Pruski for his incredible drive to support his community. “I am impressed by him every day,” Pozdol says. “He volunteers at everything. I ask him if he has time to sleep or breathe with all he does. He amazes me at how he does all this. I feel like I do a good amount of volunteering. But next to him, I feel like a slacker.”
The volunteerism that meant as much as any to Pruski involved helping first responders and hospital staff last year. He used money out of his own pocket in addition to partnering with local restaurants to buy lunches for three different groups: firefighters, police, and hospital staff working in ICU units taking care of Covid patients.
He believes his effort had a lot to do with him receiving the Central Maryland Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 Government Advocate of the Year award.
“One of the things I noticed with Covid is how stressed people are, particularly first responders and hospital staff,” Pruski says. “We can donate money to a charity, but when you are talking about people on the frontlines dealing with a healthcare crisis, I felt I had to do something more. It was meaningful and I think people appreciated it. I got a couple of thank you notes.”
Another charitable fundraiser he helped organize seven years ago is one of the closest to his heart. It’s the Thanksgiving Day game of flag football in Gambrills/Odenton Recreation Park, where families throw a football around. It started with two families and has grown up to 50. The effort will resume this fall after a two-year hiatus because of Covid.
Participants have raised money for charities such as Sarah’s House, Anne Arundel County Food Bank, other local food pantries, and families of fallen county police officers.
Pruski also assisted with a sports card show in May for another organization he supported, Hope for All in Glen Burnie. He helped set up the card show and cleaned up after it was over. The money raised went to the nonprofit that helps the needy with furniture, clothing, and housing.
“They provide a lot of great services and I was so glad I could help,” Pruski says. “I highlighted their group on my website, since a lot of people didn’t know they existed.”
Pozdol doesn’t see Pruski slowing down anytime soon when it comes to charity work. “His thing is always, ‘How can I help you?’” Pozdol says. “He really enjoys helping out the community.”
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